John Hughes says Hibs fans 'are going to have to trust me'

HIBS boss John Hughes today urged the club's supporters to keep putting their faith in him despite the disappointment of their 5-1 defeat to St Johnstone.

Hughes was gutted as his side lost in spectacular fashion at McDiarmid Park, missing out on the chance to cut the gap on the SPL's second-placed club Celtic to just two points in the process.

Doubles from Liam Craig, Cillian Sheridan and a headed goal from Kenny Deuchar gave Saints a resounding victory against a Hibs side that ended the match with just ten men following the sending-off of Colin Nish for kicking out at Michael Duberry.

To compound Hibs' misery, he was closely followed up the tunnel by Hughes, who was himself sent to the stand after remonstrating with the fourth official about the build-up to Saints' fourth goal.

Anthony Stokes had earlier pulled one back for the Easter Road side but Hibs fans were left fuming by the result and performance.

However Hughes insisted: "I am not going to say things just to pacify the fans, they are going to have to trust me.

"I know that they have their favourites and guys they think can do a job for the team and so do I, but they have to put their trust in me that I can pick the right team to go to grounds all over Scotland, dig in and get the right results.

"I've got to learn from last night and make sure we pick ourselves straight back up and get on with it.

"I was surprised by how the match went because I thought we were past all of that, but maybe I just don't have the kind of characters in my squad that I thought I did."

Hughes admitted that he was surprised by how simple the victory had been for Saints and he insisted that it was himself, and not his players, who should take the responsibility for the defeat.

Hughes felt that he picked the wrong team to go head-to-head with a side packed with height and strength and stressed that the buck for the defeat should stop with him.

He continued: "I will take full responsibility for the defeat because I picked the wrong team. I should have known that because I have worked with them for seven months now and I know their character. I should have known better what it takes to go up to Perth and get a win.

"It was a real concern for us about their physical presence, their two centre halves, in fact their back four is made up of big, big guys.

"Even their midfield and front two are big physical guys and that resulted in them getting the victory. We couldn't match it and maybe even now we have still not got the personnel to go match that because we are not the biggest side in the world – but you still have to go out there and show a bit of spirit and passion."